Beer: Reviews & Ratings

this is better than its ratings here, and quite a tasty beer on the whole. an amber beer in color, but definitely got a lot more going on in the grain bill to both balance the attendant sweetness of the style and to add some deeper texture to it. the wheat is a nice addition, balancing for sure, but adding quite a bit of fresh cereal character too. there are plenty of hops as well, grassy for me, very mild, almost green tea notes in the aroma, and a slight citrus in the flavor. i thought carbonation was excellent, and the squarely medium bodied beer finishes quite clean. overall i havent loved a lot of the basic uinta stuff, they really show their stuff in the crooked line series, but i thought this was quite good, and definitely an evolutionary step past a basic american amber. worth trying, although i havent seen much of it in distribution here in denver. (869 characters)

S: Get some fruity notes that mix decently well with lightly sweet wheat and barley malts, along with a cereal graininess. Very straight-forward and simple

T: Follows the nose. Starts off with a sweet cereal/malty sweetness along with a moderate fruitiness. Goes into some of the wheat notes before finishing with lingering cereal notes

M: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation

O: A very straight-forward and simples brew that is fairly decent. Extremely easy to drink (like most of Uinta's non-crooked line brews) and could be easily sessioned. Nice for a "break" beer every once in a while (660 characters)

Poured from a brown 12 oz. bottle. Has a dark amber color with a 1/2 inch head. Smell is sweet, some spices are apparent. Taste is of mild lemons, some spices, a bit of wheat, refreshing. Feels medium bodied in the mouth and overall is a good quality beer. (256 characters)

t: yeasty, toasty and mild. They say beer is like bread that you can drink. Now I believe it.

m: sparkly.

o: I like this! It's complex enough to be interesting without being overbearing and pretentious. It's just a nice, smooth, beery-bready-flavoured beer. This is going on the "classier-than-usual summer evening quaff" list. (428 characters)

I wasn't so sure about having Hazel at first, but upon further reading, I decided to give it a shot.

Serving Type: Straight out of the bottle

Appearance: Didn't really see due to drinking out of the bottle, although I'm sure it would've looked really good.

Smell: Scent of Citrus and Wheat bear strongly and come forth. Really good scents in my opinion, and it also tells me this is going to be an interesting brew.

Taste: When I first drank it, I detected an orange-lemon taste. Second drink, the wheat comes forth, giving it the taste of Wheat Thins. All throughout the duration of drinking, it becomes clear that this is what a Citrus Wheat Thin would taste like. The flavor is consistent all the way through the brew 'til the end.

Mouthfeel: Very smooth, the hops are very balanced. It's not too smooth, but not really rough at all either. Very pleasant feel to it.

Overall: It's an extremely good beer. This could be a drink-straight or drink-pair brew. Either way it could go. If pairing with food, I would recommend a wheat-bun burger to go with it, and have a mildly spicy sauce on it. Flavors really open up with that pairing. (1,145 characters)

Appearance- Pours up about a finger's worth of head which has a little retention. The head is a weak cotton white while the body is a dark amber with hints of maroon which appears medium to dark amber in the light. Tiny spots of sporadic lacing.

Nose- This is extremely subtle. A light note of coriander. Some lemon, some spice. A bit of wheat (with a little bit of grain) from the bottle. Swirling reveals a little bit of wheat but even more cereal. This, however, is about as strong as you would find in some AALs. Very minimal fruit esters (lemon and berry).

Taste- Front starts with a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of sour. Lemon and then the coriander really kicks in. Wheat and other grains (under the generic identifier of “cereal”) pervade the flavor profile but don't exactly have a lot of presence. Very weak finish that abandons any notion of flavor that the rest of profile has. The lemon moves into other fruity esters and makes this beer taste a bit like some of the raspberry wheats I've had. Some notes of tea (mostly black, but some green) and rye. The fruity esters are definitely some kind of berry but I don't know which kind. This is by no means a great beer or even a good one but it is much better than I expected based on its rating. However, it is a real failure in the hops department- I don't perceive any and I'm pretty sensitive to bitterness. The website advertises a “bright, hop character” but I get none of this. A beer that was just above average is now below average to average in my critical opinion.

Mouthfeel- Between medium and light bodied with too much zip from the carbonation. Weak and watery finish.

Drinkability- A beer that lacks suitable presence should be fairly easy drinking and this beer is. Price is a little steep for a mediocre beer. 9-10 bucks is not cool for a 4% average beer when I could get something from Lagunitas for the same price. I will not be buying this again.

Overall- The flavor profile has some interesting aspects to it. I, however, do not approve of the brewer's misrepresentation of it. I would give it a try though if you want something low on taste on alcohol but isn't entirely boring. (2,186 characters)

A mini-trade with my colleague, Sam Knocken, netted me this and several other Uinta beers. That works!

From the bottle: "Earth, Wind and Beer Personified by Uinta Brewing Co. Salt Lake City Utah"; "For best flavor enjoy in a glass"; "Brewed with renewable power"; "Amber Wheat Ale".

I saw no reason to hold back and went with an aggro pour, resulting in a dense, foamy finger of light-tan head with good retention. Color was a deep coppery-amber with NE-quality clarity. Nose had a strong malty sweetness, slightly bready, slightly biscuity. Mouthfeel was medium with a big, sweet presence on the tongue. Finish remained fairly sweet and I found myself thankful that I only traded for one of these. It is not that there was anything intrinsically wrong with it, nor was it out of spec for the style guidelines as promulgated by this site. Instead, I just prefer something hoppier and when I do not get it, I tend to move on. Caveat emptor! (941 characters)

I think this is one of the few mass produced beers I didn't try while in Utah.

This is a dark wheat? Really? I get no wheat tones off this. It strikes me as much more of an amber than anything else. And a mild one at that. Kind of a boring beer, I have to say. Nothing really going on flavor wise that holds my interest. (322 characters)

Pours a mostly clear copper with a chill haze. Aroma of orange citrus and some spicy notes. In the taste mildly bitter citrus hops and a small earthy dry spice. Mild tangy sweetness but this beer is more than bitter enough to balance out. Medium bodied and very crisp with a small dry spice. Overall this is a nice wheat ale. Well crafted and enjoyable. (382 characters)

An average but sessionable ale. Could be better, not very wheaty and the tartness doesn't fit with the rest of the beer. Would probably pair with food okay. Glad I tried it but it's pedestrian. (449 characters)

O: Not sure if age was a factor here, carbonation was as strong as ever which hints otherwise. Sweet, with an extract like twang, boring nose and flavor wise can't see this getting much better. pass. (789 characters)

I picked this up as a M&M 6pack from Binny’s in Downer’s Grove, IL in summer 2012.

Pours a clear, medium brown/amber color with a perfect off-white head. Some slight scents of wheat and malts, but nothing overpowering in the smell. Taste is quite mellow and very light. You get some hints of raw wheat but that it is. The actual taste is fine, there just need to be more flavor behind it. Overall a weak beer that needs work, but I guess it’s all about marketing it as a USDA organic in the end. (503 characters)

Poured a 1" slightly custard head with medium life. The body is beautiful, a rich clear amber. Nice smell of malt and even fig. The taste is far milder than the smell hints to come, but pleasant and a little on the sweet side. Very easy to drink. The body is a little watery.

My favorite thing about this beer is the label showing Hazel, who looks pretty similar to Sarah Palin. I chose this over other options specifically so I could give it to the in-laws as a laugh. (470 characters)

A: Nice amber color. Thin amount of head that didn't stick around long. Left patches of lace here and there

S: Couldn't really get much from it. Hints of sweetness but couldn't tell it was very weak.

T: Again, very weak. Thinking I picked up an old bottle or something. Some toasted malt and very light sweetness but having a hard time deciphering. Tastes like a watered down light lager.

M: Carbonation was so-so, again not much flavor jumping out here. Stronger alcohol taste with the mouthful but flavors just aren't popping out at me. Really not sure why. Think I def. had an old bottle.

O: Not very impressed. Pretty disappointed. Couldn't find a "Best by..." date but im guessing its an old bottle. Otherwise its just a very plain beer. Would consider trying one more time to put speculation to rest. (810 characters)

A- Amber body into a pint glass. Small off-white cap forms and only stays around for a few moments. A cloud stays but the head is lacking overall. A few spots of lace around the glass.

S- Having a tough time picking much out. I definitely get a bit of caramel malt and darker fruits.

T- A pretty laid back beer. Hints of mixed fruit like apple, grape and something darker come to mind first. Caramel and slightly toast malt add a sweetness and round it all out with a bit of yeast bread.

MF- Somewhat foamy feel overall in a light-end body that has high carbonation. No significant hop bitterness.

Doesn't really intrigue or impress but it drinks easily and also doesn't have any major flaws. (696 characters)

Pour into a pint glass from bottle. Color is a nice red. Head is small and quick to dissipate. Odor is pretty faint. Not much to it really, come malt and maybe a little wheat or grain. Taste was kind of average. A little flat as far as mouth feel goes and tastes mild and carbonated. Overall it is a pretty refreshing beer. It just lacks some of the substance. (363 characters)

A - Pours with good clarity on a quite dark amber color. A finger of foamy off-white head exhibits decent staying power before falling off to a small collar and inconsistant lacing on the glass.

S - Aroma is sweet malt, sugary, a bit soapy, grainy and doughy. Hops at pretty much non-existant at least to my senses.

T - Flavor matches the aroma well. Sweet malt, doughy and grainy...plenty of wheat presence. Again, not much for hops here. There is a slight overall sweetness here so I suppose the hops are doing something to balance this out, but it is really a stretch to get any noticeable flavor presence.

M - Lighter body, lightish/medium carbonation as well. Carbonation is there, but the beer is still a bit lifeless overall and has a bit of a watery feeling to it.

O - Overall...ok, just doesn't really stand out in any way from other beers out there. Flavors are a bit dull and weak in intensity with a lifeless carbonation. Drinkable for sure, but nothing special about this one. (1,104 characters)

Handsome amber in the glass. Very fragrant nose is the best feature. A simple beer with clean flavors and a nice touch of malty sweetness. Another lower-alcohol Utah beer that has an appealing flavor. Not much in the way of hops, however.

Bottled on 12/16/11. Interesting that the label says it contains "barley malt, hops, and yeast," but no mention of wheat malt. (366 characters)